Sunday, 4 December 2016

Bath Christmas Market

Last Saturday I went with the girls from my old job to Bath Christmas Market.

We caught the train at 8.25 (eep) from Cardiff Central with an aim to be in Bath by 9.30 am so we could hit the market nice and early.

We started off our journey with croissants and jam and buck's fizz and yes despite it being so early it went down rather well.

Things were going well as we pulled into Bristol a mere 15 or so minutes outside of Bath :)

But then things kinda came to a halt as their was signal failure between Bristol and Bath - no-one really knew anything so we were sat waiting on the train for ages. Eventually they told us that the train was returning to Cardiff so to get off!

The service from the train company was pretty shocking - no information - nothing said about replacement bus service or anything.

We eventually decided to get the bus between Bristol and Bath as time was getting on and we didn't want to waste the day.

We found out there the bus went from and joined a HUGE queue as the first bus left fully packed out. Whilst we were waiting for the next bus a replacement train service came around the corner (also packed) as we were at the back of the queue waiting for the bus we decided tried to get on the next replacement rail bus which had just pulled up. We all (all 13 of us) managed to squeeze onto the bus and finally make the last leg of the trip to Bath.

We got to Bath about 11.15 at which point it was manic crazy busy - like you couldnt walk around it was that crazy.

We split up into smaller groups and wandered off to look through the stalls - we agreed to meet at Turtle Bay where we had reservations for lunch at 1.45.

The market was lovely but so difficult to navigate through because it was so crazy busy. There were lots of lovely home made products, some delicious food and drinks, plenty of entertainment and Bath itself was beautifully decorated.

The Abbey was doing carol services every hour or so and we popped into one of the services - I'm not very religious so to be honest I was going along for the comfy inside seats to finish off my ht mulled cider lol.

The service was nice - some carols a brief christmas message and very chilled. Unlucky or us they were filming for Songs of Praise on that day and at one point the camera was focused straight on me - I am truly hoping and praying that I am not going to be shown on Songs of Praise today following this - it would do nothing for my street cred lol.

After the carol service we did some more shopping - being the freebie hunter that I am I was delighted to see pedigree and dreamies were giving out free sample sachets - I quickly got a bunch for my kitties and Jac the dog (and I got my friends to get some for me too as they didnt all have animals).

Free kitty treats and dentastix plus money off coupons yay

We got to Turtle Bay and joy of joy they had 2 for 1 on cocktails :D The drinks were good, the food was great if a little hot!

Around 4pm a couple of us decided we were gonna leave and try to get home - the trains were still down so we weren't 100% sure how that was going to happen.

We got to the station (via a very cool toy shop) but again noone knew anything. We spoke to staff and they said there would be no replacement bus service as all the bus drivers had reached their driving limit. We eventually decided to get the train to Bristol Temple Meads and get home from there.

The train to Bristol Temple Meads was running late and we were lucky to get it as the next few after were cancelled! We got to Bristol Temple Meads and there was just 1 train running to Cardiff - now if I was the train company knowing that the had cancelled 4/5 trains to Cardiff I would look at getting an extra train put on or add in more carriages but thy didnt - they had 2 carriages for everyone - it was crazy we were all standing and people couldnt get on.

We eventually got to Cardiff at like 7pm - phew

Overall Bath market was really nice and I really enjoyed my brief visit and will deffo go back next year but will book a hotel and spend a night so I can really explore and enjoy it all.